I am looking at replacing the cutting head on my Ridgid planer with a helix head.

I notice that two manufacturers sale cutting heads for this planer : Byrd Tools sales the Shelix (which I installed on my Powermatic jointer) and Accu-Head.The Accu-Head is quite bit less expensive, why?Is the quality of the cut/finish between both head noticeable?

I have been looking for place to buy an Accu-Head , the only place I found is E-bay, ,who else sale these heads?Thank you for reading.Bertrand

Yes, the cutters are square to the stock on the Accuhead. Fine woodworking had a head to head comparison, and the Accuhead didn’t perform much better than straight blades in terms of tearout. It would still have the advantages of carbide, over the stock machine HSS blades.

Once I am out of all my replacement blades for my Dewalt planer, I will switch to the Shelix head.

-- Willie, Washington "If You Choose Not To Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice" - Rush

Shelix = Shearing cut & Helix spiral. If you look at a Shelix cutter head (here’s the one I just installed in my Grizzly G0490) not only are the cutter head inserts angled, they are also radiused e.g. there’s a slight curve. I have used a Shelix on AAAAA figured maple with little to no tear out. I don’t think you would get the same performance from a straight cutter head like the Accu-Head on figured wood. If you are just planning some pine meh it may not matter.

I kind of figured that. Thats why I copied the two most important pictures from the review and posted them here.

The boards in those pictures where done with new cutters. The person did a before and after comparison when he changed over to the Byrd shelix head on his dewalt planer.

I personally don’t look at what it cost versus the cost of the tool. If it will do what I want then I’ll buy it. For me I got my planer for free. All I looked at was the cost difference between the two makes and opted for the accu-head as in the end it did what I needed it to.

I’ve got a Steel City 40200H that’s advertised as a helical-head, but in truth it’s more of an offset segmented cutter, not unlike that Accu-head, rather than a true helical like the Shelix. Here’s a pic:

Having said that though, I’m quite happy with my planer. Virtually no tearout on some funkier woods and little to no snipe (although that’s more the planer than the head). I can’t see myself getting something else unless I just wanted something bigger.

Not too long ago, I wasn’t paying attention and accidentally sent some Jatoba through it sideways (against the grain instead of along the grain). Aside from the funky looking shavings coming off, the board itself was pretty darn smooth. There was minimal tearout at the very end (quick shot of sandpaper cleared it right up), but I’m not sure if any cutter head would do that okay.